Cake with Johnny Rotten

In 1977 I was a 16-year-old punk. My mate Dean's dad was a fireman, on strike, and Dean rang me up to say the Sex Pistols were doing a benefit for the striking firemen's children. I remember banging my head on the wall in frustration because I couldn't go. Then he rang again a few days later and said, "Do you want to pretend to be my brother?"

My mum and dad weren't happy about it - not because the Pistols had been banned from everywhere, but because it was Christmas Day and I was supposed to be with the family. But I worked on my mum first and eventually they let me go. So on December 25 1977, I was on a bus full of firemen's kids driving from Halifax to Ivanhoe's in Huddersfield, which was some sort of a nightclub, for what turned out to be the final Sex Pistols gig in the UK.

At that point I'd only seen about three gigs, including the Stranglers. I think the Pistols were doing two sets but the first was in the afternoon. There were police outside. Inside there were loads of freebies from the record company: badges, skateboards, posters. I got a yellow skateboard with pink wheels - like the Never Mind the Bollocks album cover - by winning the pogo-ing competition. I soon swapped my jumper for a yellow T-shirt with the album logo on it. Then I got two handkerchiefs with the Anarchy cover printed on them, but I gave one to Sid Vicious because he said, "Those bastards won't give me one!"

Johnny Rotten came out in a straw hat and they had a cake with Sex Pistols written on it, the size of a car bonnet. He started cutting it up but it soon degenerated into a food fight. He was covered head to foot. It was fantastic. I took a photo of Steve Jones, who did a rock'n'roll-type pose. I took one of Sid and he asked, "Do you want to put Nancy [Spungen] in as well?"

Eventually the Pistols came onstage. I think they only played about six songs. I remember they did Bodies, but omitted the swear words because of the children. Steve Jones's guitar sounded very raw and exciting. During Holidays in the Sun, Rotten held out the mic and people were shouting out their names, but because I was probably the only punk there I tried to shout the lyrics: "Cheap dialogue/ Cheap essential scenery."

The gig itself was great. Sid had his leather jacket open and was hammering the bass. They were really on form and I was a bit overcome, really. I'd taken my album along but I was so excited talking to the Pistols, I forgot to get it signed. Sid was the easiest to talk to because he was like one of us, like a kid. I asked him what he was doing next and he said they were going to America. I'd like to think I said, "Don't go, it'll all go pear-shaped," but I didn't. Within a few weeks the band had split, Sid had been remanded for murdering Nancy and then he died. I wore a black tie with a Sex Pistols badge on it for a year in mourning.

I recently discovered that I'm in The Filth and the Fury DVD eating cake and talking to Sid - my brother bought it me for Christmas. I've been a policeman for 20 years - I'm a sergeant now - but I'm still a punk, as are a lot of coppers. I still go to gigs and crowd-surf with my boss. He's an inspector.